Friday, 1 November 2013

New Rare Plant Register for Nottinghamshire VC56.

Congratulations are in order for Dave Wood and Mark Woods, on the recent publication of their Rare Plant Register (RPR). I asked Mark how much work he thought had gone into the RPR, and he replied " I'd be hard pressed to give any sort of estimate for the length of time taken to write the register - hundreds of hours! - let alone calculate the hours of field work. The bulk of the work has to be attributed to Dave Wood, who has tirelessly worked the length and breadth of Nottinghamshire for 30 years."

Hypochaeris glabra
Image: S. Hammonds

Mark also pays tribute to "the co-operation and support of the Biological Records Centre and the efforts of so many contributors". The names of everyone who contributed plant records to the RPR are listed in Appendix 2. Mark is very modest about his own role, saying "For my part, I have enjoyed countless hours in the field since the mid-1990s, either accompanying Dave or roaming with one or more Jack Russell terriers in tow. The write-up has also been greatly helped by the contribution of some excellent photography (notably the late Steve Hammonds and Ken Balkow) and a very informative geology text prepared by Dave Bate of the British Geological Survey". You can download the Notts RPR here, and there are 25 other Rare Plant Registers. Many botanists find that a RPR of your vice-county is essential and, if you are visiting a new county for which a RPR has been published, it really helps to know which rarities you might encounter and where to look for them. Mark hopes that seeing a finished RPR will "stimulate wider interest in Nottinghamshire's flora - we have lots of interesting plants and some wonderful sites. The RPR will also provide the basis for the larger work that is the preparation of a long overdue County Flora".